Robert Vadra firms violated Rajasthan land Act: BJP

Nov 10, 2012, 04.20AM ISTTNN

Companies owned by Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra violated Rajasthan's land ceiling Act by acquiring more than 10,000 bigha land in the state's solar park zone of Bikaner-Jaisalmer region, the BJP alleged on Friday.

JAIPUR: Companies owned by Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra violated Rajasthan's land ceiling Act by acquiring more than 10,000 bigha land in the state's solar park zone of Bikaner-Jaisalmer region, the BJP alleged on Friday.

The opposition party also accused the Ashok Gehlot government of failing to inform the income tax department about the unusually high number of land transactions in the region within a span of few months. This was done to avoid a probe into the source of funding, the BJP alleged.

BJP national secretary Kirit Somaiya said the Rajasthan Imposition of Ceiling on Agricultural Holdings Act, 1973, required private companies to seek permission from the state for buying large agricultural holdings and also disclose the purpose of buying the land.

"But Vadra's companies neither sought the government permission nor disclosed the purpose of acquiring such a large volume of land. This is violation of the Act's sections 4 and 17," Somaiya told reporters.

The BJP leader asked if Vadra's companies were into the real estate business. "The Act prohibits private companies from creating land banks for the purpose of trading in land," Somaiya claimed. "As per the Act, private companies can be allowed to buy agricultural land for setting up an industrial plant or a project, but the Gehlot government helped Vadra's companies create a land bank. Now any company that wants to set up a solar plant in the region has no option but to buy land from Vadra's companies" he alleged.

Daring chief minister Gehlot to come clean on the fresh charges, the BJP national secretary alleged the Act was even amended to suit Vadra's interests. He, however, refrained from disclosing what amendments were introduced and when. Gehlot government, though, got an amendment in section 17 passed in the state assembly without a discussion in September 2010, its gazette notification is yet to be verified.

Somaiya repeated that the Non-Conventional Energy Ministry at the Centre and the Gehlot government at the state helped Vadra's companies to buy land in the solar park zone between 2010-11 and 2011-12. "The solar energy policy was held back from 2009 to November 2011 until Vadra's companies had bought most of the prime land in the region," he alleged.

The BJP leader claimed that the agricultural fields were bought by Vadra's companies for Rs 10,000 per hectare three years ago and are now being sold around Rs 6.72 lakh per hectare. "The land prices have appreciated by 60 times in just three years," Somaiya said.